Dish Stock Shows Ergen’s Mobile Network Seen as Bluff

Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen, a former Las Vegas card-player, says he’s prepared to build a wireless-Internet network from the ground up. The company’s stock shows investors are betting that it’s a bluff.

Ergen’s moves are being watched by investors because of the effect on the U.S. communications industry. If he decides to build a new national network with spectrum licenses he’s buying, Dish would create more competition for a wireless industry dominated by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. If he instead sells the airwaves, he may enhance the power of the top players by giving them more capacity to add customers and services. Dish’s rising share price is evidence that investors think Ergen won’t commit Dish to the cost, time and regulatory hurdles of building a network, said Craig Moffett, a Sanford C. Bernstein analyst, who rates the stock “market perform.” Dish, the second-largest U.S. satellite TV provider, has increased about 27 percent in the past 12 months. “If Dish came forward and confirmed tomorrow they’re about to start doing something strategically grand -- building a wireless network -- the stock would plummet,” Moffett said.